Book and wrapper feed mechanism for wrapping machines



R. E. ACKLEY Sept. 15, 1953 BOOK AND WRAPPER FEED MECHANISM FOR WRAPPING MACHINES 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 20, 1950 R a, -1% tfl$ w an N E A), 3 QM MQL l W Go P w In umtm Rigymond E. v17 Iggy Sept. 15, 1953 R. E. ACKLEY 2,651,899

BOOK AND WRAPPER FEED MECHANISM FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Filed April 20, 1950 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. y 3 mwnd f. Q J w p 1953 R. E. ACKLEY 2,651,899

BOOK AND WRAPPER FEED MECHANISM FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Filed April 20, 1950 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR. R ymond E. aclil y lfys.

sfipt 15, 1953 AKLEY 2,651,899

BOOK AND WRAPPER FEED MECHANISM FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Filed April 20 1950 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 v I O JNVENTOR. I I I I lig mo'nd E, (Zckley BY L g? digs.

R. E. ACKLEY Sept. 15, 1953 BOOK AND WRAPPER FEED MECHANISM FOR WRAPPING MACHINES 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 20. 1950 lggymond E. (10kg Sept. 15, 1953 Filed April 20, 1950 R. E. ACKLEY 2,651,899

BOOK AND WRAPPER FEED MECHANISM FOR WRAPPING MACHINES 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 [oz m2 3 INVENTOR. 6 l7 lie mono! Eat/(Leg Patented Sept. 15, 1953 BOOK AND WRAPPER FEED MECHANISM FOR WRAPPING MACHINES Raymond E. Ackley, Evanston, Ill., assignor to W. F. Hall Printing Company, Chicago, 111., a

corporation of Illinois Application April 20, 1950, Serial No. 157,149

3 Claims. (CI. 53-98) This invention relates to apparatus adapted f use in simultaneously delivering a wrapper and a book, magazine, catalog, etc. (hereinafter referred to as a book), to a wrapping machine of the fiatwrap or fold-wrap type, such as the wrapping machine disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 157,150 filed April 20, 1950, in which each book and wrapper assembly is delivered to an endless conveyor and held thereon during the folding, gluing, and sealing operations by means of a series of endless belts.

The present invention contemplates the p vision of a wrapper feed mechanism for delivering wrappers between the bite defined by the endless conveyor and a pair of overhead endless belts of a wrapping machine, in combination with a book feed mechanism which acts to place a book in registry with and upon each wrapper immediately prior to engagement of the book and wrapper assembly between the coacting conveyor and endless belts.

This invention further contemplates the provision of a wrapper feed mechanism comprising an endless belt having a portion of its upper flight disposed in a common horizontal plane with the upper flight and forward end of the wrapping machine conveyor, the belt being provided with push lugs arranged at spaced intervals to engage the wrappers.

This invention further contemplates the provision of a book feed mechanism in which an ejector mechanism acts to discharge books from the bottom of a hopper directly into the bite defined by the conveyor and endless belts of the Wr pp machine, with the forward edge of each book in registry with the forward edge of its respective wrapper.

This invention embodies other novel features, details of construction and arrangement of parts which are hereinafter set forth in the specification and claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view illustrating the manner in which the book and wrapper feed mechanism is applied to a wrapping machine.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of same.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view illustrating a book and wrapper feed mechanism embodying features of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken alon the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. '7, illustrating the book ejector mechanism in its forward position.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view,

2 corresponding to Fig. 5, illustrating the book ej ector mechanism in its rearward position.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line i-'l of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view taken along the line 99 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 10 is a detail sectional view illustrating the manner in which a book and wrapper assembly is inserted into the bite defined by the endless conveyor and coacting overhead endless belts of a wrapping machine.

Referring now to the drawings for a better understanding of this invention, the book and wrapper feed mechanism is shown as applied to a fiatwrap and/or fold-wrap wrapping machine comprising an endless link conveyor 6 mounted on a driving sprocket l and a driven sprocket 8 which are keyed to shafts 9 and H, respectively. The shafts 9 and I l are journaled in suitable bearings l 2l2 provided on opposite ends of a frame l3 which is supported at spaced intervals upon suitable legs (not shown). The frame is provided with top rails l t-hi and bottom rails iii-l6 to support the upper and lower flights, respectively, of the conveyor 6. The conveyor comprises a plurality of links ll pivotally connected at their ends to adjacent links by means of pins IS. A pair of rollers Ii -49 are journaled on opposite ends of each pin [8 for rolling engagement along the top and bottom rails [4-44 and l6l6 during operation of the conveyor.

A primary endless belt 2| is mounted on a driving pulley 22 and a driven pulley 23 to dispose the lower flight of the belt against the upper flight of the conveyor 6. The pulleys 22 and 23 are keyed to shafts 2 1 and 26, respectively, journaled in bearing brackets 21 and 28, respectively, provided on a truck supporting frame 29. The upper flight of the belt 2! is engaged by a pair of idler pulleys 3i] and 3| journaled on bearing brackets 32 and 33, respectively, mounted upon the truck supporting frame 29.

A relatively short auxiliary endless belt 35 is mounted on a driving pulley 36 and a driven pulley 31 to dispose the lower flight of the belt against the upper flight of the conveyor 6, the driving pulley being keyed to a shaft 38 and the driven pulley being keyed to the shaft 26. The wrapping machine is also provided with endless belts 4!! and 4| which coact with the conveyor 6 to hold book and wrapper assemblies against displacement during the several wrapping operations, said belts being mounted on driving pulleys 42 and 43, respectively, keyed to a drive shaft 44.

The conveyor 6 and endless belts 2|, 34, and 4| are driven in timed relation and at a common 1inear speed by means of an electric motor 44 which acts through a chain transmission 45 to drive a main shaft 46. A bevel gear 41 is keyed to the shaft 46 for meshing engagement with a companion bevel gear 48 keyed to a shaft 49 which acts through a chain transmission 50 to drive the conveyor driving shaft 9. A gear 5I is keyed to the shaft 49 for meshing engagement with a companion gear 52 keyed to a shaft 53 which acts through a chain transmission 54 to drive the shaft 44.

A bevel gear 55 is keyed to the shaft 46 for meshing engagement with a companion bevel gear 57 keyed to a shaft 58 which acts through a chain transmission 59 to drive the driving pulley 22. A power transmission unit 6| is operatively connected to the main drive shaft 45 and provided with two power take-off shafts 52 and 63. The power take-off shaft 62 acts through a chain transmission 6 to drive the driving pulley 35 provided for the auxiliary belt 34.

In the operation of a wrapping machine of the type shown and described, the book and wrapper assemblies are conveyed through the machine by means of the conveyor 6 and overhead endless belts during the several folding and scaling operations, as more particularly shown and described in my copending patent application Serial No. 157,150 filed April 20, 1950.

The book feed mechanism is shown as comprising a hopper 58 adapted to receive a stack of :1'

books B which rest upon a plurality of fingers 6'! mounted upon a frame 68. An ejector E9 is disposed at the lower end of the hopper 8G and is mounted for reciprocative movement upon a pair of guide members i I--'!I secured to the frame 68. The frame 68 is bolted to a pair of brackets l2'|'2 which, in turn, are bolted to a transverse frame member T3. A connecting rod 74 is pivotally connected at it to the ejector 59 and is pivotally connected at its other end to a pin I! provided on a crank plate T8. The crank plate "I8 is keyed to a shaft 79 journaled in suitable bearings pro vided on the transverse frame member 13. A bevel gear 8I is keyed to the upper end of the shaft 19 for meshing engagement with a companion bevel gear 82 keyed to a shaft 33 journaled in bearings 3 provided on the frame member [3. A bevel gear 88 is also secured to the shaft 83 for meshing engagement with a companion bevel gear 8? keyed to a shaft 38. A bevel gear 89 is keyed to the lower end of the shaft 86 for meshing engagement with a companion bevel gear 9I keyed to the main drive shaft 46. A plurality of push plates 92 are secured to the upper surface of the ejector 69 to engage the rearward edge of the bottom book in the hopper during forward movement of the ejector.

The wrapper feed mechanism is shown as comprising a pair of endless chains 9393 extending around a pair of driving sprockets 9494 keyec to a drive shaft 93. The endless chains 9393 also extend around a pair of driven sprockets 91-91 mounted upon a shaft 98. The upper flights of the chains 933 are mounted within chain guide members S9-99; and the lower flights of the chains are mounted within chain guide members lilIIfiI. The chain guide members 99--99 and !Elii[ll are mounted upon brackets I62Ill2 which, in turn, are supported for sliding movement along transversely disposed shafts I03 which are supported at their ends in the side frame members I04. Each bracket I02 is adjustably positioned along the shafts I03 by means of an adjustment screw I05 having its one end threaded through its bracket I02 and its other end journaled in its side frame member I04. By rotating the adjustment screws I05, the spacing between the endless chains 9393 may readily be varied to accommodate wrappers W of various widths. During adjustment of the chains 9393 transversely of the machine, the sprockets 94 and 3? are manually moved axially along their respective shafts 98 and 98.

A pair of wrapper guide members [66-406 are provided to engage the side edges of the wrappers W as the latter are moved toward the wrapping machine by the endless chains 9393. Each guide member I06 is mounted upon a bracket I0! mounted for sliding movement along the shafts Hi3. Adjustment screws let-H18 are journaled at their outer ends in the side frame members Hit-4G4, the inner ends of the adjustment screws being threaded through threaded apertures provided in their respective brackets I01. By rotating the adjustment screws I08I08 the spacing between the wrapper guide members Ii$lt6 may be varied to accommodate wrappers of various widths.

The endless chains 93-93 are provided at spaced intervals with push lugs N39 to engage the rearward edges of the wrappers W. As the wrappers are moved upwardly by the upper flights of the endless chains 93-93, the medial portions of the wrappers are supported by a plurality of rods H! which are adjustably mounted upon a transverse rod I I2 secured at its ends in the frame members ltd-46a. The drive shaft 96 is driven from the power output shaft 53 by means of a chain transmission I I3.

In the operation of the apparatus thus described, wrappers W are mounted upon the upper flight of the endless chains 93-93 for delivery into the bite defined by the forward ends of the conveyor 6 and the endless belts 2! and 34. As each wrapper approaches the conveyor 6, the ejector 89 acts to move a book from the bottom of the hopper $36 into position upon the Wrapper. The endless chains 93- 3 and the ejector 69 then coact to deliver the book and wrapper assembly into engagement between the upper flight of the conveyor 6 and the lower flights of the endless belts 2i and 34. Each book and wrapper assembly is then moved continuously through the wrapping machine by means of the conveyor 6 to apply the wrapper to the book in the manner illustrated and described in my copending patent application Serial No. 157,150.

While this invention has been shown in but one form, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an apparatus for applying a band of wrapping paper around an article, an endless wrapping machine conveyor having its entire upper flight disposed to receive and support a wrapper having an article mounted thereon, a pair of endless belts arranged side-by-side having their lower flights disposed to engage and extend along opposite sides of the upper flight of said conveyor and to coact therewith in holding each article and wrapper against relative movement, the front ends of said pair of endless belts being disposed directly above and adjacent the front end of said conveyor to define therewith an inwardly converging bite to receive and engage an article and wrapper assembly for movement through the apparatus, a wrapper feed mechanism to deliver one wrapper at a time directly into the bite defined by said conveyor and said pair of endless belts, an article feed mechanism including a hopper and an ejector mounted for reciprocative movement to deliver an article from said hopper onto each wrapper and to simultaneously insert the article directly into the bite defined by said conveyor and said pair of endless belts, means to actuate the conveyor, endless belts, wrapper feed mechanism and article feed mechanism ejector in timed relation, said wrapper feed mechanism comprising an endless chain having a portion of its upper flight inclined upwardly and thence along substantially a common horizontal plane with the upper flight and beyond the forward end of said conveyor, and push lugs provided at spaced intervals along said endless chain to engage the rearward edges of wrappers.

2. In an apparatus for applying a band of wrapping paper around an article, an endless wrapping machine conveyor having its entire upper flight formed and disposed to receive and support a wrapper having an article mounted thereon, a pair oi endless belts arranged side-byside having their lower flights disposed to engage and extend along opposite sides of the upper flight of said conveyor and to coact therewith in holding each article and wrapper against relative movement, the front ends of said pair of endless belts being disposed directly above and adjacent the front end of said conveyor to define therewith an inwardly converging bite to receive and engage an article and wrapper assembly for movement through the apparatus, a wrapper feed mechanism to deliver one wrapper at a time directly into the bite defined by said conveyor and said pair of endless belts, an article feed mechanism to deliver an article onto each wrapper and to simultaneously insert the article directly into the bite defined by said conveyor and said pair of endless belts, means to actuate the conveyor, endless belts, wrapper feed mechanism and article feed mechanism in timed relation, said article feed mechanism comprising a hopper to receive a stack of articles, an ejector disposed to close the bottom of said hopper, means to impart reciprocative movement to said ejector longitudinally of the conveyor, and abutment means provided on the upper surface of said ejector to engage and move an article from said hopper directly into said bite during each forward movement of the ejector.

3. In an apparatus for applying a band of wrapping paper around an article, an endless conveyor having its entire upper flight formed and disposed to receive and support a wrapper having an article mounted thereon, an endless belt having its lower flight engaging and extending along the upper flight of said conveyor to coact therewith in holding each wrapper and article against relative movement, the front end of said endless belt being disposed directly above and adjacent the front end of said conveyor to define therewith an inwardly converging bite to receive and engage an article and wrapper assembly for movement through the apparatus, a wrapper feed mechanism to deliver one wrapper at a time directly into said inwardly converging bite, an article feed mechanism disposed above said wrapper feed mechanism to deliver an article onto each wrapper and directly into said inwardly converging bite, said article feed mechanism comprising a hopper to receive a stack of articles, an ejector disposed to close the bottom of said hopper and supported for reciprocative movement, abutment means on the upper surface of said ejector to engage and move an article from said hopper directly into said bite during each movement of the ejector toward said conveyor, and means to actuate said conveyor, endless belt, wrapper feed mechanism and ejector, said conveyor and endless belt coacting to withdraw an article from between the hopper and ejector.

RAYMOND E. ACKLEY.

References Cited in the file 01": this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 808,956 Tucker Jan. 2, 1906 1,659,143 Hopkins Feb. 14, 1928 1,669,015 Oliver May 8, 1928 1,772,143 Grunlee Aug. 5, 1930 1,979,253 Coy Nov. 6, 1934 2,018,432 Ackley Oct. 22, 1935 2,074,886 Bergstein Mar. 23, 1937 2,525,031 Gilbert Oct. 10, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 588,750 Germany Dec. 2, 1933 

